MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has admonished the Department of Education (DepEd) over its failure to utilize its over P3-billion budget intended for the procurement of learning tools and equipment (LTE) to be distributed to public schools for science and mathematics as well as for technical-vocational livelihood subjects.
In its 2022 annual audit report on DepEd, the COA noted that of the P3.798-billion budget allocated by Congress to DepEd for the procurement of LTE in connection with the implementation of its Science and Mathematics Equipment and Technical-Vocational Livelihood (SME-TVL) program, only 14.54 percent or P552.325 million was obligated as of Dec. 31,2022, leaving an unobligated balance of P3.246 billion.
The allocated budget to DepEd for its LTE procurement included P2.724 billion under “current” or 2022 appropriation, and P1.074 billion under “continuing appropriation” from prior years.
An obligated fund refers to the amount that had been set aside by a government agency for payment of its various expenditures, commitments, transactions or obligations; while the unobligated budget is considered as unutilized as it was not earmarked for any expenditures.
The audit body’s data also showed that of the obligated amount, only 37.51 percent or P207.174 million was actually disbursed by DepEd, translating to unpaid obligations amounting to P345.151 million as of the end of 2022.
“The non-utilization of the allotments for the project showed the limited capability of the agency to implement its planned projects without incurring any delay,” the COA said.
“Resultantly, recipient public schools were not provided with the necessary LTE, thus forgoing the opportunity to maximize the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning on Science, Mathematics and TVL through hands-on experience on a timely basis,” it added.
The audit report was uploaded on the COA website on Aug. 24, but a copy was transmitted to and received by the office of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on July 27.
President Marcos had repeatedly stated that he wanted the DepEd to focus on improving the quality of education especially in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to keep up with the advancement of technology in other countries, especially Asian neighbors.
The COA said the low utilization of funds consequently resulted in a low target accomplishment rate.
For instance, the COA noted that of the DepEd Central Office (CO)’s target to procure 8,411,587 pieces of LTE for science and mathematics for 2022, only 25.65 percent or 2,157,733 pieces were actually procured; while of the target to procure 366,656 pieces of LTE for TVL, only 1.34 percent or 4,912 pieces were actually procured.
Furthermore, the COA said that while a status report from the supplier claimed that several LTE items procured by DepEd CO was hauled by the agency’s logistics service provider, 3PL, as of March 31, the audit team cannot verify if the items were delivered to the intended recipient public schools.